A photographic light-sensitive material generally comprises a support, e.g., glass, paper, plastic film or paper coated with plastics, having provided thereon a photographic light-sensitive emulsion layer or layers, and any other desired layer or layers, e.g., an intermediate layer, a protective layer, a backing layer, an antihalation layer, and an antistatic layer. The photographic light-sensitive material is often adversely affected by contact friction in the process of production during coating, drying and processing steps and further in the handling, e.g., winding and rewinding, in shooting, development, printing, projection, etc., or conveying, more specifically by contact friction at areas where the light-sensitive material is in contact with various devices, machines, cameras, etc., or with attached materials, e.g., dust, fiber dust, etc., or by contact friction between photographic light-sensitive materials, e.g., between the front surface of the light-sensitive material and the back surface. For example, the front surface or back surface of the light-sensitive material is scratched, or driving properties of the light-sensitive material in the camera and so on are reduced, or film dust is produced in the camera and so on.
If such scratches are formed in the photographic light-sensitive material, blackening, sensitization or desensitization are undesirably produced at the scratched areas.
Thus a light-sensitive material which is less subject to such sensitization, desensitization and blackening scratches (hereinafter, referred to as a "light-sensitive material having good scratch resistance") has been desired.
Various methods have been proposed to obtain a photographic light-sensitive material having good scratch resistance. For example, a method in which the thickness of the protective layer of the photographic light-sensitive material is increased, a method in which a latex of acrylic acid ester, etc. is added to a binder of the protective layer as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,508,925, 3,512,985, 3,533,793, 3,647,459, 2,772,166, 3,287,289, 2,376,005, 3,220,844 and 3,397,988, and a method in which colloidal silica is added to the binder of the protective layer as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,662, are known.
If, however, the thickness of the protective layer of the light-sensitive material is increased, the rate of development is decreased at the step of development or fixing, resulting in a reduction of sensitivity and contrast, or a reduction of a rate of fixation.
If the latex is added to the binder of the protective layer, scratch resistance in handling at high humidity (relative humidity, at least 75%) is reduced although scratch resistance at low humidity (relatively humidity, not more than 45%) is improved.
On the contrary, if colloidal silica is added to the binder of the protective layer, scratch resistance at low humidity is not improved although scratch resistance at high humidity is improved.